Judge awards KBR lawyers court costs in rape trial

Updated 6:26 am, Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Jamie Leigh Jones, who had lived in Conroe, accused KBR of creating a "sexually hostile working environment."

Jamie Leigh Jones, who had lived in Conroe, accused KBR of creating a "sexually hostile working environment."

Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press File

Judge awards KBR lawyers court costs in rape trial

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A former KBR employee who unsuccessfully sued the company in connection with a rape she alleged took place in her barracks room shortly after arriving in Baghdad in 2005, lost again when a Houston federal judge awarded KBR's lawyers $145,000 in court costs for the trial that ended in July.

It was not nearly as bad as it could have been for Jamie Leigh Jones, the former IT worker who had sued KBR on several grounds in 2007. In a motion filed last month, the company's lawyers had asked for more than $2 million in fees.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled Monday that Jones did not have to pay that. Citing federal rules of procedure, however, Ellison ruled that he did not have the option of declining to order reimbursement of the costs KBR's lawyers incurred because of the trial. He ruled she had to pay $145,000 in court costs.

"Because the KBR defendants' costs fall within the recoverable costs enumerated in (statute), the court finds that KBR's application for costs must be granted," Ellison said.

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Ellison did not agree that Jones' case, however flawed, fell to the level of a frivolous lawsuit, as claimed by KBR.

"The fact that Jones presented prima facie claims of sexual harassment and hostile work environment highlights the impropriety of an award of attorneys' fees in this case," Ellison stated in his order. "While the flaws in plaintiffs' testimony may have strengthened KBR's arguments and lent to its ultimate success in this case, they do not indicate frivolity or bad faith so as to justify the imposition of attorneys' fees."

Jones' attorney, Todd Kelly, could not be reached for comment. He previously had called KBR's request "shameful" and said that Jones did not have the money to pay the fees even if KBR's lawyers were awarded them.

KBR claimed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act under which she filed her claim explicitly allows for attorney fees to be awarded to the prevailing party. Its lawyers were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Jones filed her federal lawsuit two years after the alleged rape. She named Charles Bortz, her alleged attacker, but KBR was her main target. She accused the company of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, but the jury did not consider those claims after deciding that Bortz did not rape her. Bortz, a firefighter, and Jones both worked at KBR's Camp Hope compound in Baghdad.